Introduction to this solo rpg / writer's game
That's so very right, prepping the adventure took me three hours or so. That was easy, mainly because I know my setting quite well, as I've written quite a few stories set on it. It's also that I embrace making stuff up on the fly as I play solo. I don't like this approach playing with a group, but in solo role-playing, I tend to play in small chunks, so there's no concern about interrupting play, while I imagine things up to my heart delight.
I have drafted five stages, five game "sessions" if you will, that should be enough to keep me going for a little while. This is just the initial trek to the dungeon; only it's not a dungeon, but a mountain at the Human Alliance / Orc "Empire" border. So the first three stages shouldn't be too troublesome, I hope, but an opportunity to "prep as I play", getting to know this area better and possilby open new ways for adventure. We shall see.
I'm using the Mythic Game Master Emulator, 2nd Edition, which is pretty good IMHO. It's AFAIK the mom of many other solo role-playing game, and it's not that hard to grasp. Essentialy, whenever you wonder about anything in your game world, you "ask the oracle", by rolling dice. The more likely something is to be, the easier the dice roll would be; which is pretty much how every rpg works, except here you can get much more detailed and suggestive answers to fuel your imagination; by the way of a few tables.
And this system asks you to keep a few lists. Notably two: characters and threads. Characters is not just what you expect, but includes anything that can interact with the PC, including locations, groups or gods. I have refrained from going too overboard or detailed at this point, limiting myself to what's strictly necessary, I'll thinks up as I go, you know.
Also, I'm not following any other rule system other than the Game Master Emulator. In my experience, any other rules only hinder to the experience of a fast game. Stripped to its core a role-playing system must only determine if any attempted action is succesful or not and which are the consequences of success or failure.
Helper files for my game, in .txt format